January 28, 2005

Blurring the lines

In a great example of blurring the lines between company and customer, Google just launched a program that gives developers greater access to its search-based advertising system.

"There are a lot of things Google hasn't thought of that people could
do with their ad campaigns," said Nelson Minar, a Google software
engineer. "One of goals is to enable advertisers and third parties to
create tools for their own purposes."

I also recently heard about The Lego Factory from Jake, where kids (and grown-ups) use a Digital Designer to make digital models and submit them to weekly competitions. This is where Lego gets a lot of its ideas for new models.

So instead of thinking they know best, or paying for customer research, these two companies are getting free product development by their customers. More connections, better conversations, stronger brands. Good stuff.

Comments

I wonder... do the consumers helping with the product development not deserve to be paid? They help develop the product, then when it's produced, pay to receive it (if they want it). Am I too much of an idealist?

I'd consider the google API more than just enlisting customers to do product development. The API enables other people to build software products, and in so doing, create new types of companies that use the google advertising platform. It is like the cable company letting the programming company have access to their consumers. Google's API will do to online advertising what Amazon's API did for online commerce. It will enable a whole group of people to build new businesses. This is nothing short of revolutionary for the advertising industry. Google is giving anyone access their inventory. People will be bundling this into their products and services. It would be like the NYT deciding to let anyone resell their print ad inventory.